Harmonious Revival
by TheDarkDrag0n
Summary: How the end of Your Lie in April should've gone down. Kaori takes a U-turn away from the edge of death. KoseixKaori. Rated T for some language.
1. Live

_What was _supposed _to happen, but actually just got lost and switched with another script, I'm sure._

_Under construction as of 4/05/17._

* * *

It was dark.

_"__Charge the defibrillator, _now!"

She was drifting further, further into the abyss that leeched at her very existence.

_"__Clear."_

She vaguely felt her body spring up for a volatile second before sinking back into the table she lay upon. Desperate shouts and the shriek of metal against metal only barely reached her ears before she completely lost touch with the world, withdrawing to unconsciousness.

* * *

Kaori hadn't the slightest clue how many times she wept before she finally wrote that letter. How many times she stared unnervingly at her stationary; that tanuki ballpoint pen glaring holes into the back of her head.

She did it, though. Expressed what she couldn't when faced with vulnerable, cerulean eyes, that freckled face that could tell you a million stories from one look. The nervous waver of his voice when she pierced through his facade with a daunting frivolity, imprinting herself on his heart. The way his fingers whispered and collided with the piano, perfecting that teetering balance between command and spirit.

She could never say it to his face.

Kaori had to shove away her letter after writing those last three words, her mouth unable to dam the sob that broke her heart, tears careening down her cheeks.

_I love you. I love you. Arima Kousei-kun, _I love you.

Kaori hadn't the slightest clue how many times she wept during and after she finally wrote that letter.

She was glad; she unveiled her lie in April. The lie that brought him to her, the cue for the final measure of her life.

* * *

_Hey, Arima-kun._

_One day, open up your arms and catch me instead, okay?_

* * *

She disappeared.

Like the slow trickle and stop of a parched bourn, her existence faded away from him.

His fingers raced over tiles that shimmied and winked up at him, and he fought desperately against their willful release. Her presence was plucked from the very finest parts of his heart, given up to a vortex too vast for him to retrieve her from.

She disappeared. With the swell of tears in her vim, cloudy eyes, a sad simper painted on her lips, hair pinned back with that childish flower clip, she vanished completely.

Kosei silently wept as the audience erupted in a disorderly mass of clapping, screaming, and bawling. The thought that she was gone settled strangely well with him, but there was a part of him that writhed aflame in agony.

Miyazono Kaori, the girl who repeatedly ripped out his heart and stomped on it with that hideously ferocious anger of hers, was forever lost.

Kosei had been coming to terms with it for a while now, but it was too sudden. She hadn't heard how his concert had gone yet. She hadn't chewed him out for playing so eloquently, so sensually that the judges surely would deduct points for playing with such a free spirit. She hadn't waited until he burst into that stuffy hospital bedroom and expressed his true feelings about everything, about _her._

_You're not allowed to die. _

A fierce wave of heat flashed across Kosei's chest as he rose from the piano and bowed shortly. He walked briskly off the stage as the roar of the audience only seemed to grow.

_You're not allowed. It has to reach you, and then _I _have to reach you. _

His heart skipped a dreadful beat, albeit the small spit of hope rousing in his hollowed chest.

_Please don't die._

* * *

A lot of things happened.

Kaori opened her eyes, slowly, blearily. The light stung her retinas, a distressed groan eking from her lips as she tried shifting away. A trickle of pain seized control of her spine, and she writhed with an uncomfortable gasp as it passed.

"Kaori!"

"Kaori-chan!"

Anxious hands brushed away her bangs, passed hopefully over her cheeks as she adjusted to the baleful light. Her parent's blurry forms took proper shape, and as she sat up, she could only manage a bewildered stare as they bent over her, tears staining their cheeks.

"Mom... Dad?" Kaori whispered, utterly astonished. Her fingers rose to her face in disbelief, and a pinch in the arm only proved an angry pink splotch and a lingering twinge in her skin.

They threw their arms around her, carefully as they could as to not anger the fresh stitches in her side. Kaori's gaze weaved around their embrace as she lifted the hem of her shirt and stared with large eyes at the ugly marks, the gruesome proof of her ever-present _presence._

A familiar pressure swarmed the back of her eyes until she broke down once again, but this time for a reason she never dared to hope for. For the fact that she breathed and moved and—

Miyazono Kaori is _alive._

* * *

_This chapter is very short and abrupt, only because it is a retelling of the last episode, and I feel that the rush is very fitting of a situation like this. The next chapter with be lengthy-er, trust me on that._

_I really couldn't get over the ending. It made me depressed for a few days whenever I thought about it! I really need to stop getting so attached to animated characters and their feelings..._

_Thanks for reading. Next chapter with be reuniting of Kosei and Kaori._

Revisited as of 4/05/17. Not so pleased with my older writing, so I hope these changes make it easier to digest.


	2. Her Lie, the Truth

_This might have been a bit of a meh chapter. Sorry if it's displeasing. I'm trying to get the transitioning down before we get to the juicy stuff... Thank you Mermaid Monster for reviewing. It was so sweet to read and made me a giddy, giggly little schoolgirl. Thanks for your favorites and follows!_

_I also wish the chapter titles would allow punctuation._

* * *

_Miyazono Kaori; Her Lie in April_

* * *

To be honest, Kosei hadn't been ready at all to say goodbye at the end of that number.

But it was all tangible, the color that blossomed and weaved around his heart, a constriction that stung his eyes fiercely as he watched her essence ebb away into the ugly fluorescent lights of the piano hall.

He ran into the pianists' quarters, slid against the wall, and broke down into heart wrenching sobs. Nothing could explain the pain that tore and ate away at him, like he was being drowned in a sea of deafness, of monotonous black and white. Once again, his world was ripped in half, the iridescent core that was Miyazono Kaori melted away in the ruthless ocean.

_Idiot._

Ah, it sounds just like her inside his mind.

_You should be jumping for joy because of that performance, not crying like a big baby. Only a true jackass would behave like that._

"You're dead," his weak, barely resonant words fell from his lips like the sick mantra repeating itself in his deteriorating mind. The black void before him only seemed to grow larger, engulfing his bowed frame, tugging at his arms and legs.

_What? Who the hell said that? I'm way too tough for that. I've still got to kick your butt for eating my caméles last time._

Kosei smiled mournfully, heart plummeting to the depths of his stomach. How could she haunt him so callously? Yet he found himself leaning toward her voice, grasping at the dwindling chance to hear those scornful, contradicting words of hers.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring them again."

_NO, IDIOT, BRING THEM _NOW!

Kosei yelped and cracked his head against the wall, his world exploding with color and light. His ears stung and throbbed faintly as he stared with large eyes at the red phone held in front of his face, illuminating the fond address of 'Kaori-chan' in a current phone call.

Kosei's haggard breathing halted completely, and his gaze met Watari's watery golden-brown. Tsubaki whimpered from behind him, fruitlessly trying to hold back the tears running down her cheeks in endless torrents. Emi and Takeshi watched on from a short distance, dismayed and at a loss of what to do.

The little salvaged hope that had resided in his chest flared up and spindled warmly into every pore of his body, his heart restarting with a strong palpitation, a heavier current of tears almost completely obscuring his brimmed vision.

"Miyazono…"

Her tinkling laugh was like a field of flourishing sunflowers, bright, vim, pulsating with energy, though she had to have just gotten out of surgery.

_"You've got me, you know. How many times do I have to say that?"_

Just like that, she plundered the darkness swelling inside of his heart and replaced it with her light, abounding presence. He couldn't speak, but simply close his eyes and wail as something like a muffled sob trickled from the receiver in turn. Watari and Tsubaki collapsed in front of Kosei and threw themselves at him, enveloping him in the warmest hug that sent them sprawling.

Finally, when their cries had died down to violent hiccups and quiet snivels, Kaori mustered a congested proposition to sate the disbelieving silence.

_"Say… I'm actually really hungry right now."_

* * *

Kaori picked at her bedsheets and gazed out the window again, closing her eyes and grinning into a fragrant breeze that lifted her blonde hair into a joyous waltz.

"The sky is alive!" She laughed happily as sparse clouds drifted among the deep blue sky that surely smiled back at her, sending another cool gust that tickled her warming skin. The color was already returning to her cheeks, and the nurses constantly bragged upon the vigorous blush that filled her livening features when complimented on her miraculous revival.

A ragged growl severed Kaori's content revere and her viridescent gaze fell on her stomach. She laughed lightly and grimaced, patting away the angry hunger pains making her stomach gurgle unseemly.

"Don't worry," she sighed, eyes falling on the crosswalk that waited for three familiar feet to fall upon it's desolate lines, "they're coming."

* * *

Arima Kosei was not athletic. He was short of breath within a few lengths, lagging behind in a short spurt of time. His limbs were awkward and not muscled, and felt like spaghetti after climbing the stairway in school one too many times.

But, as he ran for the hospital, his breathing labored and heavy, he ran faster than Watari and Tsubaki. His legs pumped at a very un-Kosei speed, with unprecedented strength and sturdiness. Tsubaki's violently forced jogging sessions during their childhood were quickly becoming sacred in Kosei's mind as the hospital tumbled into sight.

His heart was beating unnaturally fast, and it wasn't because of the exert his body wasn't used to. His mind was filled with her, the look on her face when he would burst through the door, when he presented the caméles he bought in a rush, the flood of questions he wanted to ask her, the elegant thrush of her golden blonde hair that swished over her shoulders when she turned her head about, her eyes that regarded him so contemptuously, so exasperatedly, so fondly, so mystifyingly.

And he was presented with these possibilities as he stood before the door marked 'Miyazono Kaori', his chest heaving, sweat soaking his hairline, eyes racing porously over every detail of that stifling room the second he opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him.

Everything was in slow motion as she turned away from her open window, offered a brilliant smile, and shouted an excited, "My caméles!"

"My caméles," fell from her lips once again, but out of irritation as Kosei dropped the package onto the ground out of astonishment.

She was so _bright. _Vivid. The light in her eyes was real, the vexed quirk of her eyebrows, the contort of her lips, the healthy blush returning to her cheeks…. It was all real.

Watari and Tsubaki burst in behind Kosei, panting contrived as they grasped at the wall to remain on their wobbly feet.

More tears sprang to all of their eyes as a silence fell over the room that smelt like cherry blossoms and spring and antiseptics, that tasted like salty tears, that shone with an entire world full of new feasibilities.

* * *

Kaori gripped Kosei's hands tightly, his dark azure eyes running over her fragile body in anxious circuits. She trembled and grunted, screwing her eyes as she came to an unstable stand.

"Don't force yourself, okay? You only got out of surgery a week ago—"

"I can do it." Her stormy grey eyes cleared for a moment, forgetting her strain and sweat beginning to bead at her hairline. "I can do it."

Kosei bit his lip to refrain from saying anything further just as his gaze rested on a sealed letter on Kaori's night table, brow furrowing in curiosity.

"Who'd you write to?"

Her blonde hair tumbled in rivulets around her face as Kaori jerked her head to the side, quickly losing balance as panic ensued when Kosei made a move toward the pristinely white envelope.

He yelped as she fell backward, hands falling on her shoulders to push her far enough to land on the plush billow of her bedsheets. Kosei fell forward, miraculously missing the bed by a hairs width and slamming his forehead onto the metal frame.

"Ow, ow, _ow…_." He clutched a hand to the madly pulsating abrasion as Kaori gasped and, naturally, fell into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Kosei glared up at her through tilted lenses, pursing his lips to fit back a grin through the stinging ache. Honestly, he couldn't help it as he allowed the laughter bubbling up in his chest to seep out of his mouth.

Her movements, her breathing, her smiles, her laughter, everything was so much more fluid and graceful, even if she was as unstable as a newborn deer on her feet. But, day by day, he got to experience the endless wrath and perseverance that was Miyazono Kaori as she took another step, activated more dormant muscles, flashed him that rewarding smile that sent his heart in a flurry of uncontrollable shutters.

She was amazing, she was strong, and she was closer to him than ever.

He would visit almost every day, bring by her violin, a tape and stereo that played his sessions on repeat so that she could scrutinize every little detail for him to correct and punctuate. To help her build more strength in her weak little legs, to depend on him less each and every day, to slide her bow against the barren strings of her violin and create the resonance she loved most.

The way she would mash her lips together when he prodded about the letter and avert her eyes, how she would laugh and lean on him, her fingers accidentally brushing his, the way she pushed her bangs out of her face and sent him little smiles here and there when he brought her work from school and explained the criteria. Little things brought them closer, and Kosei felt his yearning grow clearer and bolder. There were moments where they flung apart when Watari, Tsubaki or a nurse entered the room, blushing indiscreetly and avoiding prying gazes.

It was starting to eat at him. Kosei was resolved to confess his feelings for Kaori the day she came out of the operation room and lived, but the situation proved too overwhelming for him to choke out those sacred words, much less in front of her parents and their friends. The time wasn't right, and he didn't know when it was. He couldn't read signals, her mood, or her swinging temper that knocked him straight off his feet.

Arima Kosei, the patient, passive pianist, was growing restless and terse.

* * *

He was early. He hadn't bothered practicing piano after school; he would visit Kaori shortly and head straight home for his daily sessions with Seto and Nagi.

Kosei took a breath and tucked his fingers into the slit of the door to slide it open, preparing himself for Medusa's spleen as he stepped into the brightly lit room. He found it vacant, but was unsurprised. Kaori tended to be with the doctor at this time of day in the Physical Rehabilitation room.

Setting down the parcel of treats, Kosei turned to leave before catching the bright sheen of white blaring like a beacon from Kaori's bedside, and he turned a intrigued eye on the familiar, untouched note.

Kaori would be very, _very _angry if he touched the letter. She specifically said not to even give it a second glance or thought, but that made him all the more tortured to reveal its contents. Kosei was tired of secrets, especially after the serious episodes with the maniacal girl he loved.

Taking a quick glance at his surroundings, he tentatively peeled off the black kitten sticker sealing the letter and unraveled her lie in April.


	3. Run Kosei

_Haha, yup, another abrupt chapter... My lie in April was that you guys were getting longer chapters. April fools. Sorry._

_Just kidding. I was just thinking this chapter and the next would flow better if I cut it off now. And also, having such short chapters makes it easier for me to write. They'll come faster this way._

_Thanks for continued support everyone!_

* * *

_Run, Kosei!_

* * *

Kaori abruptly ended her lesson with the doctor with a startled outcry after asking for the time, almost falling flat on her bottom in shock. Dread filled her chest like thick, freezing concrete, making her heart thunder uncomfortably in her chest.

All she could think about was the letter, the letter, _the letter._

The second she was levered into her wheelchair, she carted out of the door and zoomed as much as a wheelchair could zoom toward her room, anxiety burning her throat and building pressure behind her eyes.

She was at her room within seconds, breathing harshly, arms trembling. With a loud, thick swallow, she dug her fingers into the slit in the door, threw it aside, and wheeled jarringly over the threshold.

Kaori breathed a massive sighed of relief to find Kosei standing at her windowsill, silently admiring a breeze that filed tentatively into the room and shifted through his midnight black hair, making it writhe like a restless black sea, cloudy blue eyes closed in a peaceful rendition of early spring. Kaori found herself staring unabashedly at Kosei's becoming visage, blushing splendidly as he turned to find her quietly approaching him.

"The weather is saying something, isn't it?" She had to cover up the inexplicable flush coloring her cheeks.

Kosei smiled that serene, soft smile of his, and she nearly melted into a pile of mush right there in her wheelchair.

"'New things are coming, whether you want them to or not,' right?"

Kaori glanced up at Kosei in surprise, a contagious grin lighting up her features.

"How did you know?"

He mysteriously averted his eyes, Adam's apple bobbing. Kaori's grin faltered for a second before her attention was absorbed by garbled chatter in the hallway, followed by two heads popping from behind the entrance.

"Kaori-chan!" Tsubaki and Watari sang in unison, brown eyes gleaming at the smiling violinist. She waved them over in turn as Kosei faced them, adjusting his glasses.

"Kosei, you should be practicing," Tsubaki growled, stalking toward Kosei with a cocked fist. Kaori giggled, looking to Kosei in amusement and expecting the deer-in-the-lights reaction he usually exhibited, but instead gave a decided nod and apologetic smile that she could tell just wasn't quite genuine.

"You're right." He responded in quick resignation instead of his originally defensive flare. The brunette paused in surprise, blinking. He turned to Kaori, offering her a quick, "I'll see you later," before slipping past his flocking friends and exiting the room.

She should've recognized the nervous titter of his eyes, the inscrutable rosy hue in the apple of his cheeks, the way his breath shuddered when she pulled up to a stop next to him. The clumsy re-sealing of her lie, open, spilling and threading it's putrid contents into the air.

* * *

Kosei's heart was beating against his chest like it wanted to get out when he heard Kaori's grunts reverberating like a maddening descent to Hell as he hurriedly stamped that stupid black cat sticker down with jarring force to his innocent thumb, thrust it back in place, and jumped up to feign admiration of the spring festivities dancing in the air around him and out of the window. He busied himself by watching children frolic and laugh merrily while chasing cherry blossom petals, their boisterous laughter taking away some of Kosei's trepidation. He shut his eyelids over quaking pupils, praying that his jittery adrenaline would melt away into stoic indifference.

Kaori seemed embarrassed at her abrupt entry, stealing away at his side with a sheepish smile before turning her eyes to the splendors of an alternating season, its whims scenting the air.

The receded palpitations of his heart did a mighty restart when her plush pink lips parted with a whimsical sigh. His mind was discombobulated and filled with uncertainty, muscles taut, ready to launch a fight-or-flight response on que of Kaori's anticipated derision.

"The weather is saying something, isn't it?"

He took a massive inwardly sigh, and his frame deflated from it's rigid posture. She didn't know. Not yet.

Kosei stole a sidelong glance before casting his sight upon the myriad of color and life blossoming from every crevice of land, jeering at the dead leaves fluttering away into storm drains and gutters until the only thing left was the vibrance of spring rid completely of a forgotten winter. He decided to respond to her ruminative muse for once, humoring the ignorance that sated his deadly turmoil.

Instead of reflecting on the livelihood of the contouring pastures of the weather itself, Kosei compared it to the shifting gears connecting Kaori's letter to his situation, how it completely changed it, how it brought forth an entirely new wave of overwhelming feelings and desires.

"'New things are coming, whether you want them to or not,' right?" He prayed the wobbly smile spreading his lips appeared somewhat natural.

Her question was supposedly rhetorical, for shimmering blonde hair tumbled around Kaori's face as she angled her eyes up at him in surprise.

"How did you know?"

His breath caught at her unguarded, imploring silver eyes. Her smile was radiant and blinded his good sense, and he stared at her for several dumbfounded seconds. Retaining some self-consciousness, Kosei turned away from resplendent light that was the girl he loved, swallowing down the emotion threatening to drown him in a suffocating, intoxicating sea.

He had to leave. Somehow, he had to escape the eagerness reeling him in, the innocent vulnerability, the confirmation he didn't know he needed drawing out something illicit in him.

"Kaori-chan!"

Kosei gave silent hallelujahs as his gravely needed distraction came in the form of his two best friends, who bounded avidly into the bright room. Tsubaki took several threatening steps forward, claiming he should be practicing piano at that very moment, a fist poised for the rims of his thick black glasses.

He took advantage of their oddly flipped situation, threw Miyazono a quick goodbye, and shuffled past the stunned pair of brunettes. Kosei walked quickly down the hallways, breathing already picking up speed. The blush he had somehow forced down in that room exploded in his face and trickled down his neck until his entire body was alight with a feverish glow, in which a nurse stepped forward worriedly and asked of his health.

Kosei gave her a shaky response and burst out of the hospital doors, and

_ran._


End file.
